1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a station for an processing line which automatically picks sequential rows of items hanging by respective loops, such as pepperoni sausages, off of a rack from which they have been suspended and transfers the items to a conveyor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pepperoni and other dry sausages are produced by stuffing meat, seasonings, curing salts, and a starter mixture of selected bacteria into a casing which was traditionally made of animal intestine. Today, the casings are more typically made of a synthetic material. The casing is closed at each end either by tying or by a metal clip and has a loop of string secured to the upper end for supporting the sausage from a hook or the like. After the sausages have been stuffed, they are hung from their string loops on racks and placed in a fermentation room where the bacteria produce lactic acid. It is the presence of this lactic acid, in addition to the seasonings, which gives the sausage its familiar tangy flavor. After fermentation, the racks of sausages are moved to a drying room where they remain for several weeks until the proper water content is reached.
Pepperoni is most often used in sliced form on pizza, in sandwiches and salads, and in other foods. Commercial pepperoni producers slice and package the pepperoni in bulk for use in preparing these food items. Before the pepperoni can be sliced, however, the sausage must first be removed from the casing, which is inedible. Modern synthetic casings are reusable and therefore it is advantageous to remove the casings from the pepperoni in such a manner that the casings are not damaged.
Traditional processes for removing pepperoni sausages from their casings and slicing the pepperoni are very labor intensive. In one such method, the sausages are brought into a processing area on their drying racks, usually by means of a forklift. Each sausage is then manually removed from the rack. A worker then takes a sausage and inserts a probe connected to an air hose into one end of the casing. The worker partially inflates the casing, causing the casing to begin to separate from the pepperoni. By xe2x80x9cmassagingxe2x80x9d the sausage between his hands, the worker moves the air around inside the casing, forcing the air between the casing and the pepperoni, and thereby completes the separation process. The worker then cuts off the tie or clip. The casing can then be pulled off of the pepperoni. The worker then places the pepperoni in a bin which is transported by a forklift to a slicing station. The pepperoni are then manually removed from the bin and placed in a slicer.
In today""s market, increased demand for sliced pepperoni for use on pizzas and escalating labor costs have made inefficient manual handling and casing removal techniques undesirable. Systems have been developed for automatically striping casings from pepperoni sausages. One such machine is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,055 issued to Lyndon R. Leining et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Stripping Cases From Sausages.xe2x80x9d In this device, pepperoni sausages are manually placed on an indexing conveyor which moves the sausages two at a time through a series of stations. At the first station, air is injected into the sides of the casings proximate each end thereof At the second station, the casings are scored along a transverse line near each end, defining an end cap, and each end cap is pulled off. At the third station, a longitudinal cut is made down the length of each casing. At the fourth station, gripping fingers grab the casing and pull it off the sausage.
While this machine is capable of automatically removing the casings from pepperoni, the casings are destroyed in the process and cannot be reused. Furthermore, the machine processes the pepperoni sausages in a generally horizontal alignment and it appears that the sausages are manually placed on the machine. There remains a need for a machine which can be used to automatically transfer pepperoni sausages hanging from a loop in a generally vertical alignment to a conveyor assembly or line while maintaining the vertical alignment.
The present invention comprises a sausage transfer station for transferring sausages from a rack to a main conveyor. The sausages are initially suspended from the rack in a plurality of rows, each sausage in each row being hung from the rack by a respective loop of string attached to the sausage and entwined over a hook depending from the rack.
The transfer station includes an unload conveyor which carries the rack through the transfer station and selectively advances the rack forward. A selectively pivotable unloader shaft having a number of unloader fingers equal to the number of sausages in each row is oriented transversely to the path of the unload conveyor and parallel to the rows of sausages. Each unloader finger has a barb proximate its distal end and a pair of shoulders intermediate the proximate and distal ends. The transfer station further includes a transfer conveyor having a plurality of conveyor fingers equally spaced with the unloader fingers. The transfer conveyor runs in a generally triangular loop and has a first leg positioned below the unloader shaft and running generally parallel thereto. An apex of the transfer conveyor is positioned in close proximity to the main conveyor.
As the rack advances forward with the unload conveyor, the loops of string attached to the sausages in a row are pulled or advanced over respective unloader fingers until the loops engage the shoulders of the unloader fingers. While the rack continues to advance, the abutment of the loops against the shoulders of the unloader fingers pushes the loops off of the hooks. Simultaneously, the unloader shaft pivots in an upward direction to catch the ends of the string loops as they come off of the hooks, leaving the sausages suspended from the unloader fingers. The unloader shaft then pivots downwardly until the unloader fingers are in a generally vertical or slightly angled orientation with the sausages hanging from the barbs thereon. The unloader shaft remains in this position for a delay period during which the sausages from the previous row clear the first leg of the transfer conveyor. After the delay period, the unloader shaft is pivoted rearwardly until the string loops of the sausages are engaged by respective conveyor fingers and pulled off of the barbs and onto the conveyor fingers. The unloader shaft is then pivoted back into its initial position in preparation for unloading the next row of sausages.
Once on the conveyor fingers, the sausages continue along the path of the transfer conveyor until they reach the apex thereof proximate the main conveyor. At the apex, the strings of the sausages are sequentially advanced across a plate having an outwardly inclined edge which pushes the strings off of the conveyor fingers. After being pushed off of its respective conveyor finger, each of the string loops is captured by a hook on the main conveyor. The sausages then travel along the main conveyor toward the casing disengaging station.